Published 8 July 2026
NHS Doctor Pay
Every national NHS pay scale for doctors and dentists, from a foundation doctor to consultant, GP and SAS, with take-home beside every gross figure. Pick your grade below for the full scale.
£40,190–£150,569
From a first-year foundation doctor to the top of the consultant scale (England). Gross scales from the NHS Employers Pay & Conditions Circular (M&D) 1/2026R; each grade page shows the full scale and cites its exact source.
Find your grade below. Each card shows the published gross with take-home beside it, for a full-time post on the standard tax code.
Resident doctors
Foundation years 1 and 2, core and specialty training.
- Gross
- £40,190 – £76,582
- Take-home
- £29,305 – £49,231
SAS doctors
Specialty doctors and specialists.
- Gross
- £63,696 – £102,689
- Take-home
- £43,412 – £62,415
Consultants
The consultant scale, from CCT onward.
- Gross
- £113,565 – £150,569
- Take-home
- £67,908 – £80,608
GPs
Salaried GPs and GP registrars.
- Gross
- £78,699 – £118,759
- Take-home
- £50,301 – £69,748
Dentists
NHS dentists in salaried and community roles.
- Gross
- £54,502 – £116,573
- Take-home
- £38,349 – £69,027
Custom
Enter any salary and your nation for the take-home, tax and pension breakdown, including less than full-time.
MoreTake-home pay
The scales above are gross pay. After income tax, National Insurance and pension contributions, a foundation doctor on £40,190 keeps about £2,442 a month in England. The deductions take a larger share as pay rises, because income-tax rates and pension tiers both step up with salary.
The pay ladder
Nearly every doctor climbs the same ladder: medical school, two foundation years, then core and specialty training. The fork comes at the end of training. Doctors who complete it and gain their CCT can take consultant or GP posts. Doctors who step off the training pathway can build a career on the SAS (specialty and associate specialist) scales instead.
The devolved nations
Each nation sets its own version of every scale, and the cards above already show your nation’s figures where they exist. England and Wales are on the 2026/27 scales, and Northern Ireland on 2025/26. Scotland’s 2026/27 circular covers training grades only, so its resident-doctor figures are the newest while its consultant, SAS and GP scales stay on the 2025/26 round.
The NHS pension
By default, every NHS doctor is in the NHS Pension Scheme, paying tiered contributions out of pay before tax: the highest earners in England contribute 12.5% of pensionable pay before tax relief. Very high earners can also meet the annual allowance, a tax charge on pension growth. You can use our NHS pension modelling tool to see what it will be worth when you choose to retire.
Frequently Asked Questions
They are the current published scales, and already include the most recent pay award for each nation. The four nations set pay separately, so the round can differ between them, as the devolved-nations section above sets out. See the latest NHS pay rise for the breakdown.
No. These are basic pay scales. Your actual earnings are also affected by on-call, additional hours, banding and any private practice, which are paid on top of the basic figure shown.
Doctors are on separate medical and dental pay scales, not Agenda for Change. AfC covers nurses, allied health professionals and most other NHS staff.
Each nation publishes its own medical and dental pay circular. We read the scales directly from those circulars; the source is cited under every pay table. England’s are the NHS Employers medical and dental circulars.